Council committee hears development code workplan, possible solution for treatment plant odors

Addressing a range of issues in a two-hour virtual Committee of the Whole meeting Tuesday night, the Edmonds City Council learned about 2026 plans to update the City’s development code and heard an update on City finances. Councilmembers also agreed with a proposal to go out to bid for equipment that would help reduce odors coming from the Edmonds wastewater treatment plant. And they decided to forward to the next council business meeting consent agenda a proposal to change the current structure of council committees — returning mostly to the formation that was in place during 2024.

Starting out the meeting, Planning and Development Director Mike Clugton presented his department’s work plan for 2026. One of the main priorities, Clugston said, will be an overhaul of the City’s development code. The plan is to reorganize all the titles in the current code and move to a unified development code.

The Municipal Services Research Center, a nonprofit that provides legal and policy guidance to local governments, explains that unified development codes “integrate multiple types of land use and development regulations into one location of a municipal or county code. This often includes combining and locating a zoning code, subdivision regulations, critical areas ordinance, and development review procedures into a single title of a local government’s code document.”

Clugston described current City code as a “haphazard mess” that has been in place for about 46 years. “It’s time to take a look at that holistically, pull it apart, see what’s still valid, put it back together in a more coherent manner,” he said.

Staff will also be reviewing middle housing and design review codes passed as part of the Comprehensive Plan update to ensure these new codes “match up better with existing codes,” Clugston added. Depending on staffing, the hope is adopt the new code by the end of 2027.

Another key piece of work for 2026 will be reviewing the City’s tree code. The council last year passed an interim ordinance governing landmark trees that is set to expire at the end April. Clugston said that will need to be extended through the end of the year to ensure that staff can review not only that ordinance but the City’s development tree code and a private property tree code that it began work on several years ago.

One of the staff members involved in that work will be Deb Powers — who formerly served as the City’s urban forest planner and has returned to that job. “We’re really excited to have her back,” Clugston said.

Councilmember Chris Eck asked whether there were plans to involve the Edmonds Tree Board along with local environmentalists in tree code work, and Clugston said that is the plan, although the exact details haven’t yet been worked out. Following up on that idea, Councilmember Vivian Olson mentioned the recent community engagement study conducted by Edmonds resident Kevin Harris, which pointed to the importance of involving the community at the beginning of a process rather than at the end.

“Reading his (Harris’) report, I was actually thinking about the tree code and our many efforts at promoting and changing and adding private property tree code that have been foiled and ultimately nothing being adopted,” Olson said. “And I just hope that we can take the lessons that he has sort of put in front of us in this community engagement study so that we don’t repeat the same patterns that have gotten us nowhere in the past.”

Councilmember Susan Paine asked about the possibility of the Planning and Development Department addressing, as part of its code work, the barriers to siting child care centers in some parts of the City. Clugston replied that there is a state mandate coming on that issue in the next few years and it would be good for the City to get ahead of it.

Councilmember Will Chen pointed to the longstanding complaints people have had about permitting delays, which cost money for both business owners and the City, in terms of lost revenue. “Do we have the step in place to kind of streamline that process a little bit?” Chen asked.

Clugston replied that a couple of factors are in play. First, outdated codes sometimes stand in the way of efficient permitting processes, such as those involving child care operations.  And second, Clugston noted that his department has been short staffed for a while, which also causes permitting delays.

Clugston said he plans to provide a more detailed report on development work during a February Council business meeting.

City Finance Director Richard Gould then followed Clugston with a report on the City’s November 2025 financial.

Among the highlights:

• The City’s total fund balance has increased by $13.9 million as of Nov. 30, due to delayed capital projects and reduced staffing.
• Interest income continues to decline from 2024, down 5.5% or almost $153,000. Gould cited two reasons for this: first, multiple bonds with higher (over 4%) interest rates maturing and second, interest rates dropping nearly .7% from last year at this time.
• The vacant but funded employee count of 26.25 employees (as of Dec. 8) comprises 10.4% of the entire staff, but Gould noted that some of these positions were on staff during 2025. That factor — combined with payouts (payments to staff who departed the city) — is why labor costs are under budget by only 9%, he said. The general fund is over budget in four departments due to payouts brought on by retirements and layoffs, Gould explained. While staff does try to budget for these payouts, it underestimated the amounts in 2025 due to layoffs. However, Gould noted that the general fund is under budget overall — by 7% — as of November.

You can see the complete November finance report at this link.

Gould also told the Council that the City is experiencing delays implementing its new enterprise resource planning software, which was supposed to go live during the first week in January. As a result, December 2025 financial reports to the Council will be delayed, he said.

The Council also agreed to place on its next business meeting consent agenda authorizing a call for bids for a wastewater treatment plant truck enclosure and air scrubber. City staff have proposed a plan for reducing the odors emitting from the treatment plant by enclosing the trucks that are used to haul solids and installing an air scrubber that reduces the odor leaving the enclosure. The estimated cost is $280,000.

City Public Works Director Andy Rheaume explained that the City installed a new gassifier system to treat the city’s wastewater solids. However, the system hasn’t been working properly so what was supposed to be a temporary fix — hauling solids from the treament plant to an Oregon landfill — has lasted three years. As a result, odor problems have plagued nearby neighborhoods.

“The most dependable and costeffective solution is to install an enclosure around the trucks with a rolling door to swap the trucks out when full,” a staff agenda memo in Tuesday’s Council packet said. “The structure needs to be outfitted with an air scrubber that sucks the air out of the enclosure and through an air scrubber that greatly reduces odor.”

The City of Lynnwood’s wasterwater treatment plant — which is also currently hauling solids to a landfill — said its truck enclosure system has been successful in addressing odor issues, Rheaume said.

He noted that the $280,000 estimated cost would be “split proportionately” among the City’s wastewater treatment plant partners — including the City of Mountlake Terrace — based on the flow Edmonds receives from those entities.

The Council also agreed, by a 4-3 show of hands, to place on next week’s consent agenda an ordinance that would change the structure and meeting times of the council commitees and include a new study session each month. In 2025, the Council agreed to move committee meetings from focusing on a subject specific (for example, a finance committee) to include broader Committee A and Committee B designations that could consider all issues. The proposal discussed Tuesday night returns the Council to the committees that were in existence in 2024, with the following committees meeting on the third Tuesday of each month: Finance Committee, 1-2:30 p.m.; Parks and Public Works, 3-4 p.m. and Public Safety, Planning, Human Services and Personnel from 4:30-5:30 p.m. Study sessions would be held from 3-4:30 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month. All of these committee meetings and study sessions would be virtual.

Newly elected Council President Michelle Dotsch proposed the change, stating that Mayor Mike Rosen expressed support for the idea.

“The goal is to ensure that items come forward in a more timely manner with clear communication and context earlier in the process,” Dotsch said. “This will allow Council decision points to be made based on well-developed information, reducing the need for last-minute clarifications or foundational questions during action.” Under the revised structure, “committees would act more like focus subgroups, along with regular full council meeting touch points during the year, helping surface key questions and priorities sooner,” she said.

Council President Pro Tem Jenna Nand also spoke in support of the change, stating it would allow councilmembers to become subject matter experts on their respective committees, thus playing a valuable role by focusing on key issues.

Councilmembers Olson, Paine and Eck opposed the change, citing the value of having all councilmembers involved in the discussion of important issues, rather than having a few councilmembers taking them on, by subject.

In addition, Olson said she saw the value in having two committee meeting opportunities two weeks apart — rather than one per month — so that staff could bring forward important issues more regularly.

Paine also said she worried that the one hour allocated for two of the committees (besides finance) often wouldn’t be enough time to get through important issues.

Some of the councilmembers were opposed to having the monthly study session on Thursdays, since that is not a day traditionally set aside for council business.

Councilmember Erika Barnett suggested there may be value in trying out the revised committee meeting system for a period of time, and then making changes to address any problems that occur.

Dotsch asked for a show of hands on who favored placing ordinance amending City code on the next council consent agenda. She joined Chen, Barnett and Nand in voting yes, while Eck, Olson and Paine dissented.

In other business, Dotsch announced the appointment of Councilmembers to outside boards and commissions for 2026. They are:

Legal Assessment Committee (LAC)
1) Chair, Paine
2) Nand

Disability Board – Mayor appointed
1) Barnett
2) Eck

Lodging Tax Advisory
Barnett

Affordable House Alliance
Chen

Edmonds Chamber of Commerce
Dotsch

Public Facilities District Oversight Committee
Eck

Port of Edmonds
Chen

Seashore Transportation Forum
Dotsch

SNOCOM 911
Nand

Snohomish County Tomorrow
Eck
Olson – alternate

Salmon Recovery WRIA 8
Olson

Lake Ballinger
Olson

Community Transit
Paine